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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

After a long silence in my blog,here I am reviving it again. Come what may,I realized I couldn't abandon my blog. I sincerely thank all my readers who messaged me,inspiring me to keep the blog alive. Also a shout out to my husband who designed this lovely header. Felt like coming back to a newly decorated, good old home filled with memories. A lot happened during the past year,and I thank the Almighty for giving me courage and keeping me going.

It's the blessed month of Ramadan. A month of fasting,not feasting. This year,Alhamdulillah,I made a resolution to keep our meals to a bare minimum. Not that we had extravagant meals all these years,but the focus was always been on food rather than more on worship. It's always been what to cook for Iftar(Breaking fast),what to make for Suhoor(Early Morning meal),how many iftars do I have to organize and so on and so forth. But starting my higher studies on Islam, getting myself bombarded(in a good way) with all the updates about the true essence of Ramadan by the social media and various groups that I'm part of, helped me realize the true spirit of this blessed month.

Now in Srilanka, the staple Iftar meal is the Conjee or the rice porridge. This is what we've been having for Iftar plus dinner every day. The snack and the fruit juice will vary every other day. This is a simple dish that doesn't require much time. I make it for 2 days and refrigerate minus the coconut milk. If you want to keep a portion aside,after you boil the rice you take a portion of it and refrigerate. For the remaining rice portion you add the coconut milk and consume it that day. Freshly squeezed coconut milk is what we always use for this but a lot of us here in Gulf are unable to get fresh coconut. So substitute coconut milk powder diluted with water or canned milk.

In a pot add rice,beef,ginger,garlic,curry leaf and pandan leaf,the spice powders,fenugreek seeds,chopped carrot and leek,chopped onion and tomato with water.Add salt.
Do not cover while boiling.Boil on medium to low heat,till the beef gets cooked and rice becomes mushy.
Switch off the fire and mash the rice with the back of a big spoon.
Add the coconut milk bit by it and mix it with the rice,getting a smooth consistency.
At this stage,the porridge will be thick.You need to add 1 cup of water or more to dilute it. It should be in the consistency of a slightly thick soup.
Add more salt.
Keep the conjee on fire again and heat it. Crush the cumin seeds and peppercorn using a mortar and pestle to a fine powder.
Sprinkle it on the conjee and mix it.
When the conjee is heated and bubbles start to appear on the sides take it off from fire.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Zespri Arabia did it again, that is to send me another box of kiwis. This time it was a pleasant surprise, in the form golden kiwis. I have never tasted golden kiwis before. Eagerly, I cut open a kiwi,scooped out the golden flesh and started devouring. The note of lemonade hit me sharply as I was warned. It was still not fully ripe. I gave it a few days and since the Ramadan started the box of kiwis was not disturbed very much.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Here's wishing all my readers a blessed Ramadan. This holy month is a time to look inwards, cleanse our soul, connect with Allah and hopefully continue to do the same for the rest of the year. This is also the time where we turn into our favorite comforts foods. These food adorn our Iftar table every single day and we take immense pleasure in making and serving it to our friends and family. One such meal that me and my family come to love is this simple chicken and veggie pie.

I submitted this post to a lovely food blog Yummy Food by Lubna who is hosting the event "The joy from fasting to feasting" where she features recipes from Muslim food bloggers around the world this whole month of Ramadan. Now that's something worth checking out.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

The temperature is rising sharply here in Dubai. It's hot and humid even in the evenings. The park outings with the kids have almost come to a standstill. We crave for juicy fruits,cooling liquids and food all the time. My granny used to make sago pudding or kanjee during very hot days in Sri Lanka. She used to say it's very cooling to the body. It's easy to make and delicious. We have it as dessert.

I don't normally do product reviews on my blog. But if it's something I had used and really liked it I definitely share it. I heard about Zespri kiwi from a fellow food blogger's post and purchased it when I saw it in one of my shopping trips to the supermarket. Normally I'd buy kiwi half-heartedly as it ends up being sour or overly-riped most of the time. But Zespri kiwi surpassed it all. It was really sweet and juicy and no sourness at all. I was delighted. From that time onwards, when I purchase kiwi, I make sure it's the Zespri brand.

And when Zespri sent me a box of kiwis I readily agreed to create something using it. Kiwi is a wonder fruit,I would say. It has more Vitamin C than oranges, Potassium,Vitamin E and is a blood thinner helping to relive blood clots. Zespri is grown in lush New Zealand farms and one of the best kiwis out there.You can check this YouTube video on how the kiwi is grown. http://goo.gl/6IsQy

I paired the cooling sago pudding with nutrient-rich kiwis,topped with treacle and toasted cashews it was a wonderful dessert that you can have any time of the day. I had this for my lunch.

Kiwi and Sago Pudding

100g sago pearls
1 cup water
1 cup coconut milk
3 to 4 tbsp raw sugar (depends on your liking,you can substitute any sweetener you like)
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1 tbsp raisins
Sliced kiwis
Treacle or syrup
toasted cashews,chopped
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Wash the sago pearls in running water and drain.
Tip in the sago pearls,a pinch of salt and water to a pan and let it come to a boil on a medium fire.
Keep on stirring till the pearls get cooked and the mix becomes translucent.
Add the cardamom powder,sugar,raisins and coconut milk and keep stirring till the mix becomes a bit thick.
Take off from fire and leave aside to cool.
Spoon the pudding onto serving glasses and refrigerate it till you serve.
Serve it with sliced kiwis,a drizzle of treacle and chopped nuts.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

I felt odd clicking the publish button. As my last post was way too back in time. A big no in the blogging arena. The guilt that I had abandoned my blog was way too much than I could take. Life moves on bringing with it new challenges and changes. You have to make way for those and that means pushing certain things aside for some time. I have started working from home. Between raising the kids, doing household chores and working, I found some time to post a recipe, requested by my friends when I posted a photo of it, on Facebook.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Let me tell you something about my new found addiction. If you can call 6 months new,that is. Oat bran .

I have it everyday. Almost. Around 5 to 6 times a week for breakfast. It has become my go-to-done-in-5 minute breakfast. I have never got bored of it so far. And I hope I never will.

I detest regular wholewheat rolled oats now,it tastes bland ,very gooey and I thank God I didn't have to stomach it out longer. I discovered oat bran quite accidently while going through a meal plan to lose some of the stubborn-never-seem-to-shift weight. It said to cook the oat bran with just plain water and no sugar. Now that's way too plain for me. Of course,I omitted the sugar and added my own twist to it.

Cinnamon for flavor,nuts for the crunch and dried fruits for sweetness. And for chocolaty goodness,the chocolate chips. A teaspoon or two doesn't hurt right. Well,my whole idea was to have breakfast and dessert together in one meal.

Monday, January 28, 2013

What you see above is a totally unplanned shot of our lunch last week.
I wasn't planning to shoot anything that day but when I plated the meal it looked photogenic and I had beautiful early afternoon light streaming through my kitchen windows that was just perfect.I had to click.

It all happened too fast,with this dish. I had almost half an hour to cook lunch before I dash out the door to pick my hungry kids. A quick search online brought me this recipe which I was satisfied with as I had just the right ingredients,beef and broccoli..tada..